


I Understand

by bronzy28



Series: the shiganshina chronicles [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Eventual Smut, Friends to Lovers, M/M, dumb boyfriends, geez what do i tag this as, jean is an idiot but that's a given, past jearmin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-11
Updated: 2014-01-11
Packaged: 2018-01-08 09:50:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1131201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bronzy28/pseuds/bronzy28
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s okay, Jean. I understand.”</p><p>He smiled. “Sometimes you get me better than <em>I</em> get me.”</p><p> </p><p>side chapter for <a href="1119213/chapters/2254827">IWAM</a>. this can be read on its own, but it takes place somewhere between chapters 6 and 7.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Understand

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: i didn't feel like writing chapter 8 so have some jeanmarco!  
> thank you again, emmy, you're the best uwu
> 
> rated E for happenings in the second chapter 
> 
> written in marco's POV
> 
> edit: the french is fixed, thanks john c:

“Hey Marco, take a look at Jaeger. What an idiot.” Jean leaned over and shoved his elbow into my side.

“Ouch, that hurt! Come on, Jean. Be nice to the kid,” I scolded.

“Be nice to Jaeger? Hell no!” He took an angry bite out of his sandwich. “Jus’ rook at ‘im!” Jean practically yelled, spitting pieces of food at me.

“Jean, that’s gross, stop.” I peered over at Eren’s table, leaning forward to get a better view. Eren had his head down on the table while Armin struggled to contain his laughter.

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” I looked incredulously at Jean. He took a big swig of Gatorade and slammed it on the table.

“Look at him though! Who the hell blushes like that?” Jean crossed his arms and muttered, “He better not be confessing to Armin or anything.”

I sighed, resting my chin in my hand. Jean and I weren’t quite dating yet, but it wasn’t like we were _just_ friends. I shouldn’t have let him rebound on me, but I loved Jean. He was possessive about everything, really. It shouldn’t have bothered me as much as it did.

“Marco? What’s wrong?” Jean waved the bottle of Gatorade in my face.

I sent him an annoyed side glance. I hated feeling jealous.

“Oh… Sorry, Marco, I promised I wouldn’t talk about it. Sorry.” He looked apologetically into the bottle.

I stood up from my seat and hooked my bag around my shoulder.

“It’s fine, Jean. I’m gonna bring my tray up. See you in French.”

“Alright. Bye Marco.”

 

“Alright, settle down,” Levi deadpanned. “We’re going to do a partner project because I don’t feel like teaching.”

Jean and I shared knowing glances.

“So yeah, everyone get partners and make a Venn diagram of what you like and stuff. You all better know what that is. It can be whatever you want: music, food, animals, colors. I don’t care. Get going.” He wheeled himself over to Eren’s desk and sat in front of him.

I could barely make out what he said before the roar of conversation took over the room.

“I’ll be your partner, brat.” Levi folded his arms on the desk and leaned closer. “Let’s see how well we’ll get along, huh?”

Jean elbowed my side again, a little more gently than earlier.

“Do you see that, Marco? Eren gets more action than I do. Incredible.” He clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. The comment stung.

_Did I not matter or something?_

I was normally a very easy-going person, considerate and nice. But something about Jean made me lose my mind.

“Well, _Jean_ ,” I spat, “maybe if you paid more attention sometimes, you’d get some.”

He squinted. “I pay attention!” [  
](1119213/chapters/2254827)

“You don’t, though,” I said, lowering my voice, “and if you tried to look beyond your ego, you might just get a boyfriend _and_ pass this class as well.”

Jean stared at me in shock. I had been so careful around him. Jean was always right, Jean always won, Jean was the best. The truth hurt.

His bewilderment became understanding and he was stunned into silence.  It was his turn to apologize.

The project was forgotten.

We both turned our attention to Levi and Eren. Everyone else was too involved in their conversations to notice them.

From where I was sitting, it looked like they were playing some kind of footsie. Their legs were tangled together, Levi holding one of Eren’s thighs between his calves. Eren was blushing like crazy while Levi kept the same blank expression. Levi moved his legs past the point where I could see. Eren squealed and Levi smirked slightly, whispering something in his ear.

_Was this even allowed?_

Eren was trying to draw circles on the paper but kept erasing them after being chastised by Levi for not being neat enough. Eventually Levi snatched the pen from Eren, drew two perfect circles then scribbled their names in cursive at the top. He held it up to Eren who only grew red in the face.

I realized that I would have to do this project eventually; I’d just make something up for Jean, like I always did. I grabbed Jean’s pen from his desk and drew the diagram.

Well, I knew his favorite color was _bleu marine_ but mine was _jaune_. Jean had _flocons d'avoine_ and _une pomme_ for breakfast whenever I slept over. I would watch him shove his face into the bowl, getting it all over his mouth in the process. I’d sit there, eating _pain grillé_ and _jus d'orange_ , laughing hysterically at his awful manners. I smiled bitterly at the thought and wrote down the French on either side of the paper. The more I thought about our favorite things, the less similarities there seemed to be. Deep down I knew Jean and I could never be a serious couple. I really was just a rebound.

“I hope all of you are working hard on your projects, just look at what Jaeger and I have.” Levi held up their poster with one hand and waved it back and forth. Almost all of the middle section was filled, spare a word on each side. Levi’s said _propre_ and Eren’s was _cochon_.

“No fair,” Connie whined, “you’re fluent in French!”

“So is Kirschtein but I see poor Marco is doing all the work over there,” Levi replied casually, staring me down.

 _Wait, when did he notice?_ I swore his gray eyes had some sort of special ability to see everything.

“And Connie,” Levi continued, “just because I’m fluent doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Everyone get back to work.”

I looked down at the paper only to notice it was missing. Next to me, Jean was hastily scribbling in the diagram. By the time I realized he had taken the paper, he was almost done filling the middle column. He wrote down one last thing and handed it to me. Jean had written everything we’d done together: _écouter de la musique rock_ , _aller au centre-ville à pied_ , _déjeuner au café_ , and all of our favorite video games and food. My heart nearly stopped at the last thing on the list. _Nous aimons les uns les autres_.

Jean was looking at me nervously. We stared at each other.

“Jean, I-”

The shrill ring of the bell cut me off. Everyone started to pack up as Levi yelled over the noise, “Don’t forget, you’ll present these first thing tomorrow!”

We had no choice but to grab our stuff and leave, so Jean shoved the project in his bag. I usually drove him home, but instead of talking about our weekends like we normally did, we walked in uncomfortable silence.

We threw our backpacks in the back seat of my Cherokee and Jean almost slipped when he missed the running board trying to hop into the passenger seat.

After the doors slammed shut, the only sound was the buzz of students and cars outside.

“I… I told you I pay attention,” Jean began prudently, “I pay attention… To _you_.”

He unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to me. I had never seen him look so distressed since Armin broke up with him.

“I’m so sorry for everything I’ve put you through. I’m sorry I’m so dumb and you have to help me with all my homework and I’m sorry for dumping all my shit with Armin on you and I’m sorry I used you an-”

I cut him off by pulling his lips to mine.

“It’s okay, Jean. I understand.”

He smiled. “Sometimes you get me better than _I_ get me.” Jean still looked apprehensive.

“What’s wrong?” I left my hands on his cheeks.

“Marco, uh, will you…I thought I’d make it up to you by…I, um…” He took a shaky breath. “Marco, will you go out with me?”

I tried my hardest to contain my laughter, but Jean’s face was too much.

“Hey! What’s so funny?” He looked around, panicked. “Was it something I said?!”

I wiped my eyes with the back of my sleeve.

“You know, I knew what you were going to say but it was worth making you say it out loud. You should’ve seen your goddamn face.”

“Hey! My face isn’t _that_ silly looking. You had me scared as hell! I thought I said something wrong!” Jean rolled his eyes. “That was so fucking difficult to say; you don’t understand.”

I leaned forward slowly, gently pressing my lips to his.

“I think I understand just fine.”

The car roared to life with a twist of the keys. We both buckled our seat belts and pulled out of the parking lot. I drove right past his house and headed straight to mine.

Jean turned to me and opened his mouth to ask why, but he must’ve realized the reason and smirked.

 

We tumbled into my bedroom, lips locked, clothes thrown haphazardly among the hallways, backpacks and all hesitation left at the front door. Jean lifted me onto the bed, kissing my neck and jaw.

“And Jean,” I muttered breathily.

He hummed against my chest, nipping my collarbone.

“The answer’s yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: i hope you all caught my _very_ creative horse joke  
>  i mean i had to put one in, it being jeanmarco and all 
> 
> as always, thanks for reading!!!
> 
> tumblr: arminsboner


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